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Had two first classes today. Civ pro prof says CP E&E by Glannon is ok, but not required. Criminal law professor says dont use supplements, all you need is covered in my class and if I am not doing my job please let me know. Trust them?

No. The fact that your professor even said that Glannon's E&E is merely "okay" is just silly. Glannon's E&E will teach you more about the law than any other book. You will learn the most from your professors, but supplements are very, very helpful.

1st semester I used supplements sparingly and focused a lot more on my class notes. I finished 1st in my section. Second semester I relied more heavily on supplements and missed some classes so my notes weren't as good. I finished worse. What does this mean? I'm not sure you can extrapolate a rule from this, but from my experience supplements should only ever be used as a light SUPPLEMENT, nothing more. Gain understanding on vague stuff from them, but use the professor's "straight from the mouth" class notes to do well.

Look at it this way:

If they were strictly necessary, they wouldn't be called supplements.

different strokes for different folks

zanda wrote:different strokes for different folks

as an old prostitute once said to me...

A'nold wrote:1st semester I used supplements sparingly and focused a lot more on my class notes. I finished 1st in my section. Second semester I relied more heavily on supplements and missed some classes so my notes weren't as good. I finished worse. What does this mean? I'm not sure you can extrapolate a rule from this, but from my experience supplements should only ever be used as a light SUPPLEMENT, nothing more. Gain understanding on vague stuff from them, but use the professor's "straight from the mouth" class notes to do well.

I agree with this advice. I used a few supplements first semester, but ignored them entirely second semester. Unless your professor is unfair he or she will test on the material presented in class. If I didn't understand a concept from reading the cases, I would visit office hours. That said, different people learn differently.

nleefer wrote:

A'nold wrote:1st semester I used supplements sparingly and focused a lot more on my class notes. I finished 1st in my section. Second semester I relied more heavily on supplements and missed some classes so my notes weren't as good. I finished worse. What does this mean? I'm not sure you can extrapolate a rule from this, but from my experience supplements should only ever be used as a light SUPPLEMENT, nothing more. Gain understanding on vague stuff from them, but use the professor's "straight from the mouth" class notes to do well.

I agree with this advice. I used a few supplements first semester, but ignored them entirely second semester. Unless your professor is unfair he or she will test on the material presented in class. If I didn't understand a concept from reading the cases, I would visit office hours. That said, different people learn differently.

Yes. I would also add that you can read just the section you don't understand in the E&E and gain some kind of overall perspective that might really blaze the path for the rest of the semester. I would just advise that being the extent of it. Don't rely on them. This is just my opinion.

A 2nd or 3rd year law student with a trend of good grades doesn't need supplements to book every class. 1 week into 1L, you probably need supplements to find the bathrooms. It's just the way things work.

I haven't started yet but at least two of my classes have E&E's as part of the "required" texts.

Is this unusual? Or just the sure sign of a TTT?












The second question is rhetorical.

In my experience, every time (except one) that I prioritized supplements above the assigned reading, doing so turned out to be a mistake. I recommend using the canned brief books to help you save time (easily worth the $30), going through an E&E to help you keep an eye on the ball/review for finals, but otherwise just do the assignments.

Remember: If the professor doesn't teach it or assign it in reading, he won't test it. And if he doesn't test it, you shouldn't waste your time learning it.

I find the E&E helpful to make sure I'm grasping the main idea and I'm not way off base. I think it would be dangerous to rely on it a lot though, as it just gives you a very basic understanding. The civ pro E&E is fantastic though, and I would recommend that one to everybody. With the rest I think it's a personal choice.

Supplements are not necessary. They might help for bar review. What's necessary now is grasping what your professor wants and learning how to spit it out with clear analysis in three hours.

If you aren't getting the concept and need a supplement to work it out, by all means, use one. Better yet, use a study group and figure it out by talking it over with them. You can, however, absolutely manage law school without supplements or with minimal use of them.

Here's the thing: you're in graduate school now. You're allowed to figure out what works best for you based on your learning style and go with it. Gunners gonna gun, fine. Let 'em walk on crutches while you're standing on your own feet.

Forgive my obliviousness bc I'm just getting books, but is the point that you only need to get the recommended course text? What do you spend all your time studying then? I have yet to see the books themselves, but I figured the challenge was sorting thru supplements all day. Using one or two texts doesn't seem so bad?

Is there a thread on what typical notetaking and daily reading consists of?

SBL wrote:
Remember: If the professor doesn't teach it or assign it in reading, he won't test it. And if he doesn't test it, you shouldn't waste your time learning it.

180

CordeliusX wrote:Forgive my obliviousness bc I'm just getting books, but is the point that you only need to get the recommended course text? What do you spend all your time studying then?

The course text, your notes, your outline, and most importantly as the exam approaches, practice exam questions. Careful preparation isn't -quite- as all-consuming as people say, but brief-writing is kind of time consuming but helpful during your first semester.